TODD YATES/CALLER-TIMES File
Some property owners along Chaparral Street have been waiting for the City Council to advise staff how the city will move forward with stalled Chaparral improvements voters agreed to pay for during a 2008 election. On Tuesday council members said they want the project to move forward with a scaled-back design.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

CORPUS CHRISTI - High-end lighting draped over the street won't make the final list of improvements for a Chaparral Street redevelopment project, but city staff are looking for a less expensive way to keep the wow factor that attracted investors.

City Council members directed staff on Tuesday to move forward on the voter-approved project without the $1.8 million catenary lighting improvements designed for two blocks in downtown. They asked city staff to find a less expensive lighting solution.

The contract cost for the voter-approved 2008 bond project has been scaled back to $3.9 million. It's about $2.2 million less than the cost to build the proposed design, which is what investors and business owners say inspired them to draw their own plans for revitalization. A contract is expected to go to the council for a vote Sept. 25, City Engineer Dan Biles said.

"It's a responsible approach to an overdue project," said District 1 Councilman Kelley Allen, who represents downtown. "And I feel like once it's completed, Chaparral Street will be the center of downtown and economic stimulus will follow."

It's already begun. About nine months ago investors bought several vacant buildings along Chaparral Street after seeing the design plans for the bond project. Their plans have been on hold until the city moves forward. Some investors said the scope of the project could change their redevelopment plans.

Bryan Gulley, who bought the Old Center Theater, Monica's Jewelry and other vacant storefronts, said two things made the public project special.

"The widened sidewalks and the lighting," he said. "Those were the two things that made it jump out. I think if you lose the lights you lose the whole effect."

Brad Lomax, who owns Water Street Seafood Co. and Executive Surf Club downtown, said his plans to renovate the exteriors of those restaurants are waiting on the project to move forward. He attended the meeting Tuesday and later said he was ready for it to get done, although construction work for the project could be at least two months away.

"I wasn't expecting to see everything done, but let's move forward now and get it done," Lomax said.

Investor Rick Deyoe, president of RealTex Development Corp. in Austin, has said the city's design plans are the reason his company bought the Lichtenstein building on Chaparral Street. The company plans to tear down the vacant department store to make room for a $28 million, five-story retail and residential apartment building. Deyoe could not be reached for comment Tuesday after the council meeting.

Chaparral Street improvements, between William and Schatzell streets, are part of a long-term goal to improve 11 blocks of the street and also reconnect it to the arts and entertainment district across Interstate 37. The downtown portion of the street will be returned to a two-way road. The revised project scope includes brick pavers at the street intersections and on the widened sidewalks, new trees, irrigation, power outlets for trees, traffic signals and underground utility improvements.

Several council members said the decision not to go with the full design still meets the merits of what voters approved. The bond language called for new curbs, widened sidewalks, new trees, shrubs, irrigation, landscape lighting and other amenities. When the project was put to voters, the budget estimate was about $3.5 million.

Gignac and Associates designed the project and presented it to the council late last year. The cost of constructing the design turned out to be much higher than the estimated budget.

Councilwoman Nelda Martinez said city staff should never have allowed that design to be publicly unveiled because it wasn't within the scope of the budget.

"It misled them because when (investors) saw those renderings they thought that is what the voters voted on," she said. "We have to have consistency for what the bond voters voted on."

City engineers rebid the construction once in an attempt to get a better price. The lowest total cost estimate was about $6.3 million — nearly $3 million over budget. But the cost is within the overall bond budget for street work because other projects have cost less than estimated.

City staff expect about $12 million in savings from the 2008 bond, which the council already has pledged to spend on other projects, including a bridge on Padre Island and a Southside road realignment at the intersection of Yorktown Boulevard and Rodd Field Road.